#Kony2012

was that 2012? i thought it was earlier than that. i remember a girl sending me that with the message "i don't normally send this stuff out because they tend to be bullshit but this one moved me" and a few days later the guy flipped out.
It was fucking bullshit anyway.
Apparently Kony was already on the retreat and sending those hashtags actually made it more dangerous for his hostages/child soldiers than a CIA op would have.
The real intelligence experts were afraid that due to all the publicity Kony would kill his hostages and disappear. They never found him (obviously) and his group splintered into smaller groups which made them even more dangerous and harder to track.
Not to mention that it created this 'myth' that hashtags could change things. So whenever a big terrorist, war, geopolitical event happened you'd have people who could actually make a difference (like Samantha Powers at the UN) post #StandWithUkraine instead.
The only hashtags that actually managed to have an effect on politics in the real world? .... #brexit / #MAGA .